Round and round

While I do appreciate the fact that when I am done I am done, no seaming or finishing whatsoever, could it be more boring? Round and round. And then round and round. Oh, look, armholes, I am going to count and then bind-off some, whooo!
And then? Round and round. I tell you, the challenge with a top down sweater is not falling asleep while I knit. Knit round and round.

Kids came home yesterday, happy, excited to be home, and with otitis externa. Someone was never told that "ear wax is good, leave it alone", so there. Other than that they are fine, and with more clothes than they can fit in their closets. No jet lag, we do not believe in it.

Life is back to normal. Except for the fact that tomorrow is my last day of work. See up there the ticker? Two to go.

Baby Bolero

Baby Bolero from the book One Skein, and it does take about 150 yards of yarn to make it. I used one ball of Phoenix and I have some leftover.

Secret Pal Package

Last week I received another package from my SP8:



Yummy candies, cards she made for me, beautiful stitch marker, a scarf pattern, and two hanks of the most soft red cotton ever:



A wonderful package and I feel so spoiled, and I would be able to express my gratitude with more eloquence to my wonderful Secret Pal if the temperature would go below 100F - right now my brain cells are melting away.

Thank You, Secret Pal!

Bread Basket Cloth

Michelle asked about the pattern for the bread basket cloth I blogged about here. It is really simple, just your plain vanilla pinwheel cloth:

Cast on 8 sts on 4 circular needles. Join without twisting the stitches.
Round 1 and all odd rounds: knit
Round 2: k1, yo all around
Round 4: k2, yo all around
Round 6: k3, yo all around
Round 8: k4, yo all around
Continue this way knitting one more stitch between yarn overs ever even round until your cloth is as big as you like. Do a couple of rounds of garther stitch, bind off and you are done!

I long for winter

At 33C (92F), what I decided to knit? An angora hat, and a scarf. I am insane, or playing a game with weather. It's hot? I do not think so, I am knitting with angora! I even found myself sketching a alpaca pullover, the kind you will wear near the fireplace when it is snowing outside. Forget that it is never snowing around here and that I hate snow, I need a red alpaca pullover.
The angora hat? It's this pattern, and I am using a ball of Patricia Roberts Angora my Knitty SP4 sent me, it's like knitting a cloud.

The purple ball is going to be the scarf, Anny Blatt Victoria and Angora Super held together. You see, if I am knitting angora and sketching alpaca, winter can't be that far away. Even if there is no winter over here.

Purple Box

I got my purple box from my Project Colorswap partner, Valerie:


Slide your mouse over to see what was inside.

Look at how many purple goodies she sent me! The yarn deserves a close-up:



Angora and alpaca, two fibers I am very much into it lately.

Thank you so much, Valerie!

Small Projects

Since I have been back, I seem incapable to settle on a "big" project. I have several in my never-ending queue, but I cannot bring myself to start one. Or to work on one of the several that are on the needles. So, I am working on quick and dirty stuff. I finally finished the Baby Hat from One Skein:



I cannot say that I enjoyed this pattern, no chart for the lace part, so it took me forever. Yes, I know, I should have just converted the stupid written out instruction into a chart, and I still may do that because I plan to make another one. And while I love the yarn (Inspirations Yarn "Decaf"), I believe this pattern really calls for a solid color.

Even simpler than a hat, a dishcloth, actually a bread basket cloth:

Adventures in Italy

People have asked about my "adventures" in Italy, and I am going to disappoint them saying, "sorry, no adventures, only knitting and eating". You see, for me, over there is "home", the place where everything feels "normal". Crazy traffic? Of course. Cars not stopping when you cross the street? Why should they? A castle few miles from my house? Well, I am sure it has been there for a while, several hundreds years. No, it is not that old, I think that it less than a thousand years. No, you do not leave a tip for the waiter, they have a salary with full benefits for their job. Of course the tax are included in the sale price, why not?

We were staying at my parents' summer house, on the seaside just north of Roma. The house has a huge backyard with a large patio, we basically lived outside. The beach is just across the street. My parents always rent a couple of "ombrelloni" (large sun umbrella) and "lettini" (lounge style beach chair), so all I did every day was laying there, and knit. Playing on the beach (sand, yuk!) with the kids is HWME's job, and there were plenty of grandparents, uncles, and aunts happy to pinch in. The sea (it's not an ocean, it's a sea) is very warm, and swallow for at least 50 meters, so it is pretty safe for them to play in the water.

I did go into the city several times, mostly when we needed a break from the "under five" population at the summer house. Given that in addition to Paperino and Principessa, my nephew (almost 4) and niece (18 months) from Berkeley, and my nephew from Roma (almost 3) were there, and another two nieces (18 months and 3 years) were visiting often, at any given time it was very likely that there was child crying or upset for some reason. The good news was that it was not one of mine (the big kids), so not my problem!

Knitting? I finished the Mountain Stream Shawl:



a present for my mom and very much appreciated. I started and finished the Flower Basket Shawl:



but I did not wear at my brother's wedding as planned - the day before the wedding I fall in love with a different skirt, I bought it, so my outfit went from brown and white to black and white. But Principessa did wear the white poncho I made for her:



I finished my stashbuster shawl as well, but no photo because it is still in Italy with Principessa. As I said before, I found out I can make a sock in 9 hours:



I did make the second one coming back, plus this one:



since SF to Roma is more than 9 hours.

I am sure I am forgetting something I knit while over there, but that's it for now.

Coming home

I came home to these:



Not one, not two, but three packages. Starting from the smallest, a yarn swap with Yarnsley from the Knitty Board:



More blue yarn for my logcabin blanket (yes, Juls, you are right, I have been logcabinning!)

The small box was the hand-dyed sock yarn swap package from Sarah, with chocolate that I may get to eat for a change since the kids are in still in Italy:



Look how many lovely shades of blue, and it is self striping! Thank you, Sarah!

Then, the big box, from nobody else but Lynn herself, who was my Project Coloswap partner for June:



Ok, a couple more photos are needed to show off everything properly:





The chocolate arrived ok (Lynn was worried) and I really love everything! I needed a new tape measure, and there it is, the cup and saucer are beautiful and I always need more tea. The ribbon and the buckle make me wish I could sew (I can't, I seriously can't), but they are so pretty I'll use them with my knitting. Thanks, Lynn!

Campioni del mondo

I started this post yesterday and it was pretty incoherent, it went like this:

"I am back. Tired more than jet lagged. I do not really believe in jet lag, I sleep when the sun is out and I am awake when the sun is up (several hours after the sun rises, I mean). But after a 24 hours trip (with a 6 hours stop in Detroit), I am tired. I do not sleep on the plane, I either read or knit. So I can tell you now that it take a San Francisco - Amsterdam flight to make one sock, from cuff to toe, just in case you were wondering. Or Rome - Amsterdam - Detroit (trip back, second sock). Photos? Yes, soon, when I am coherent enough to find the camera, the right card, the cable ...... I am surprised I made it this far with this post, in English too!
In Detroit we watched the game in a bar at the airport. It was extremely fun, not only because everybody in the bar was cheering for Italy but no idea of what was going on, and soccer is not that complicated of a game, and I am starting to think that the simplicity of it confuses people in this country, how can it be a sport if all you need is a ball, you run all the time (instead of "waiting for the ball to hit you in the head", Principessa's definition of baseball), and there are no break (again, you are supposed to run all the time, have you ever seen a soccer player with a beer belly?) so you can't up and get more junk food? Nobody eats while watching soccer, you are glued to the TV screen afraid to blink because everything can happen while you blink. It was extremely fun because of the commentary too, with the two guys who obviously knew less about soccer than the people in the bar. I loved when they say that the Italy defense "broke down" because France scored: it was a penalty kick, there is no defense in a penalty kick!"

Then I saved the draft and went to sleep - 10 hours straight, and it only happened because Principessa and Paperino are still in Italy with their grandparents. Yep, we are going to be childless for 17 days, 16 now.

Uhm, knitting, I did knit, check here all the projects I finished while knitting on the beach. Now I have to find the camera, and the other projects still on the needles. After 10 hours of sleep I am better, but still fuzzy.

Knitting Watching Soccer (on the beach)

Germany - Italy: 0-2